Fruited Pork Chops

This is yet another recipe from the crockpot cookbook I got for Christmas. I have liked almost everything out of this book. Incidentally, while I'm typing this, I am eating leftover french fried onions from the Onion Crescent Crunch Sticks from last week. Love those things.

Fruited Pork Chops
8 boneless pork loin chops
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white wine vinegar (yes I bought this. It wasn't very expensive and I felt very gourmet buying it. Hee hee.)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
2 cups chicken broth
10 dried apricots, chopped
1 cup golden raisins
10 dried plums, chopped (these are prunes. But don't tell anyone, because then no one will want to eat this, because people think prunes are just for constipated old people.)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper. In skillet, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. When butter melts, brown chops on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Place in 5-quart slow cooker. To skillet, add brown sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, allspice, and chicken broth; bring to a simmer. Stir in apricots, raisins, and plums. Pour over chops in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours or until chops and fruit are tender. In bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Add to slow cooker; cover and cook on high for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Once again this smelled really good cooking. The pork was tougher than I thought it would be. The kids said it was stringy and hard to chew. Sam even suggested that we should try "chewing against the grain" to make it easier. Nathan said "I don't like this kind of chicken," because to him, every meat is chicken. I wonder if it would have been better with worse meat. I have heard that crockpots are good for cheaper cuts of meat, because they have all day to tenderize. Maybe these were too high quality. I paid $10 for 8 boneless chops, seems pretty reasonable. But the bone-in chops were cheaper. So maybe if I tried this again I would use a lesser cut of meat. Also regarding the fruit: They were like "what's this? And what's this one?" I said fruit. I did not tell about the prunes. I did tell about the raisins. We had this with rice, and put some of the sauce on the rice. Except Nathan doesn't like rice, as he very vocally reminded us. Sam whispered, "should we not tell him that's what they eat in Haiti?" I agreed that we should not. I suppose when we're there, he'll eat it, eventually, if it's the only show in town. So I think this one is not going into the "keeper" book, although of course I am saving the cookbook, so I can always go back.

Oh, and does anyone have any good ideas for half of a bag of leftover "dried plums?"